Minimum standards constantly raised over the years

I refer to the letter, “Raising Standards” by Ms Tan Chor Hoon (11 Aug 2008).

Ms Tan has highlighted concerns over the qualifications of pre-school

teachers, availability of enrichment programmes such as music by qualified
teachers, and the enforcement of the Ministry’s guidelines.

Teacher qualification and training are key to the provision of quality child
care. As child care centres also provide kindergarten education, boththe Ministry
of Education (MOE) and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and
Sports (MCYS) have concertedly worked to raise the minimum qualifications of
the pre-school personnel over the years. Early this year, both MOE and MCYS
announced that with effect from 1 Jan 2009, all new teachers in kindergartens
and child care centres will require a minimum of 5 GCE ‘O’ level credits, including
at least a B4 grade in English Language, and a Diploma in Pre-school Education
– Teaching. Kindergartens and child care centres are also required to have 75%
of all teachers meeting the requirements to teach K1 and K2 by the year 2013.

Pre-school curriculum in child care centres is guided by the MOE’s

‘Framework for a Kindergarten Curriculum in Singapore’. This framework
provides guidelines on various developmental domains, including music. It
encourages child care centres to have programmes that are comprehensive,
creative and holistic to cater to the total development of the child. Guided by the
framework, it is up to individual centres to provide varied programmes based on
the assessed need and objectives. Many do expose children to music, though
not necessarily through a ‘piano and a qualified teacher’, particularly in the early
years where the focus is on appreciation and developing a love for music.
Parents can choose the centres that provide programmes that best suit the
needs of their children.

MCYS, as the licensing authority for child care centres, conducts

unannounced visits to child care centres to ensure that centres comply with our
requirements and that quality and care standards are maintained. Generally,
each child care centre is visited by the authorities at least once a year. Centres
are also assessed when their licenses are up for renewal, which can be every 6
months, one year, or two years, depending on the standards of the centres.

We thank Ms Tan for her feedback. The Ministry has and will constantly
review policies on child care centres to enhance the quality of child care services
in Singapore.

Lee Kim Hua

Director
Family Services Division
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
Raising Standards

I refer to “Profits not main priority” (Aug 8). Salaries and rental costs are probably
two of the biggest components in childcare centre expenses. I wonder if the low
remuneration of teachers impacts their motivation in nurturing young children.

Does the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports have

mandatory minimum education qualifications for teachers and are there any
requirement that each centre must have at least a certain number of senior
teachers with significant or specialized teaching experience? It would be helpful if
the Association of Private Childcare Organisations can conduct a survey among
childcare operators to show areas of improvement.

The writer also mentioned that childcare operators provide enrichment

programmes. But having visited many childcare centres,I’ve yet to come across
one equipped with a piano and a teacher with piano-playing or singing. That
would raise the quality of music exposure for children in these centres.

Perhaps the MCYS could provide more transparency in terms of its visits to the
centre, the scope of its audits and the results of these visits. Any sanctions would
help assure parents that the guidelines are working.

Tan Chor Hoon